One Free Hyatt Night after my one Hyatt Regency Minneapolis stay

Hyatt Gold Passport is currently running its Endless Possibilities promotion for one free night after every five nights stayed from January 15 to April 30, 2014. Members mustregister by March 31 for Endless Possibilities bonus offer.

Members may also choose to earn points, but free nights is the better deal in my opinion, unless you go all in for 15 or 20 nights during the promotion period. Points have more versatility, they do not expire soon and now Hyatt offers Points + Cash awards.

Members must choose at registration whether to earn a free night every five nights stayed or bonus points for every five nights. Your decision is final once you choose nights or points and cannot be changed after registration.

Choosing one free night after every five paid nights offers a good value for members staying only 5 to 10 nights during the promotion.

The free night certificate has limitations:

limited to category 1 to 4 hotels,

expires on July 31, 2014,

limit of four free nights after 20 paid nights.

I have earned my first Endless Possibilities free night on one Hyatt stay.

Two weeks ago I flew to Minneapolis to check out the city for the first time and I stayed five nights at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. In my travel planning world, this was one of those hotel stays where everything aligned perfectly to maximize Hyatt Gold Passport benefits with a low hotel rate and earn a valuable rebate from my paid nights.

When checking Minneapolis hotel rates I found Hyatt Regency Minneapolis on the Hyatt website for $99 per night. Orbitz showed $94 for the same room and offered an additional 20% off when staying five nights, dropping the per night rate to $75.

Hyatt Hotels has the easiest Best Rate Guarantee policy procedures. Simply call 1-888 96 HYATT (1-888-964-9288) or 402-593-5445 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) to file a claim on the spot. Hyatt, Starwood and Kimpton are the only hotel chains who will process a best rate guarantee claim prior to booking a reservation on one of their hotel chain’s websites.

I called Hyatt on the phone and filed a best rate guarantee claim based on their $99 rate and the $75 rate on Orbitz. A few minutes later, the rate was confirmed by the Hyatt representative and lowered 20% to $60 per night.

I booked a 5-night stay at Hyatt Regency Minneapolis for $300 + tax.

Once my reservation was confirmed, I called to redeem one of my Hyatt Diamond suite certificate upgrades for the 5-night stay. The Hyatt Gold Passport reservations person called the hotel and confirmed suite availability. One certificate covered all five nights.

Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond members receive four suite upgrade e-certificates each year on March 1. The certificates are valid through February 28 of the following year. Each certificate is good for a suite upgrade on a paid room for up to seven nights.

My stay at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis is the first time I have been able to use a suite upgrade for an extended stay. Typically I am a one night guy, sometimes two nights. My extended stays are almost always paid for with points.

Final tally:

Hyatt Regency Minneapolis for 5 nights in a full one bedroom suite = $342 after tax.

I received Nor-1 eStandby upgrade offers for the Hyatt Regency offering these rates to upgrade my room:

Ric Garrido of Monterey, California started Loyalty Traveler in 2006 for traveler education on hotel and air travel, primarily using frequent flyer and frequent guest loyalty programs for bargain travel.
Loyalty Traveler joined BoardingArea.com in 2008.